Home for the Holidays 2016

I recently had the pleasure of attending a preview of Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles' Home for the Holidays showhouse. An Atlanta holiday tradition, the showhouse, which benefits Children's Healthcare of Atlanta this year, always boasts an impressive roster of designers. This year's list includes Alison Womack Jowers and Cheryl Womack, both of whom are the showhouse's honorary chairpersons, Carole Weaks, Heather Hogan Roberts, and Melanie Millner.

For a peek at the showhouse, take a look at the photos below, which, thanks to some brilliant sunlight, are not so hot. (The two photos by David Christensen, though, are the bright spots in this blog post.)  The showhouse, which is located on Woodward Way in Buckhead, runs now through December 11.  If you're in the area, I urge you to visit.

The living room by Alison Womack Jowers and Cheryl Womack (photo by David Christensen)

Dining Room by Alison Womack Jowers and Cheryl Womack

Tented Vestibule by Jared Hughes of Mathews Furniture + Design

Loggia by Don Easterling and Nina Nash of Mathews Furniture + Design

Family Room by Carole Weaks

Family Den by Courtney Giles

Bathroom by Peacock Alley

Home Office by Heather Hogan Roberts (photo by David Christensen)

Children's Room by Jessica Bradley

Fig and Dove: Christmas Couture

If, like me, you are very particular about the Christmas decorations with which you adorn your house, you should know about Fig and Dove. Founded by Louisiana designer Colleen Waguespack, Fig and Dove puts the couture in Christmas, working with such artisans as Coleman Taylor, Michael Savoia, Brad Bourgoyne, and fabric house Fortuny to create sublime stockings, tree skirts, pillows and ornaments.  There are even tiny but chic tree skirts for those tabletop trees so many of us apartment-dwellers have at this time of year.

Below is but a fraction of the Fig and Dove collection.  To see the full range, or to place your orders, please visit the Fig and Dove website.

Fall Book Recommendations, Part II

High on my list of book recommendations this fall is Sunnylands: America's Midcentury Masterpiece, written by Janice Lyle, Director of Sunnylands Center & Gardens.  Home to the late philanthropists Walter and Leonore Annenberg, Sunnylands the house is a mid-century, Palm Springs-version of a country pile, one that has played host to the likes of Ronald and Nancy Reagan, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Princess Grace of Monaco, and even Queen Elizabeth.  Built in the early 1960s, Sunnylands was designed by noted American architect A. Quincy Jones and furbished by the equally prominent California decorator, William Haines.  While those two associations alone have earned Sunnylands a place in American cultural history, the estate has played an important role in American political history, too, having served as a meeting place for world leaders of both the recent past and the present, including President Barack Obama and Chinese president Xi Jinping.  Is it any wonder that Sunnylands now finds itself the subject of this compelling monograph?

Organized as a room-by-room tour, Sunnylands is notable for its large, full page-sized photographs, which go a long way to giving the reader a striking impression of the house's interiors.  Supplementing the lavish room shots are (large) detail images that provide the reader with an intimate look at the home's furnishings.  Equally as interesting is the book's text, which is concise and, at the same time, highly engaging.  Readers and photo-gawkers alike will find this book has much to offer.

One final note: the book's hardboard covers are genius.  Meant to simulate the quilted, sunflower-strewn fabric seen in the third photo above, the textured covers, coupled with the book's numerous photos of Haines's hallmark trapunto quilting, will, I predict, get people interested in quilted fabrics once again.

Bunny Williams' latest tome, A House by the Sea, just might be the next best thing to a Caribbean vacation.  An in-depth look at La Colina, the Dominican Republic retreat that the designer shares with husband John Rosselli, A House by the Sea is a paean to island living, with its intoxicating mix of swaying palm trees, tropical breezes, and inviting blue waters.  While the book's interior and exterior photos provide the reader with plenty of design inspiration, it is Williams' practical notes on how to furnish an island home that make this book a primer on ocean-front decorating, too.  Although I have no plans to buy a coastal home anytime soon, if I ever do, I know which book to consult before embarking on a decorating scheme.

Joining Williams in this literary excursion are a myriad of guests who have darkened the door of La Colina, including architect Gil Schafer, antiques dealer Angus Wilkie, and landscape architect Page Dickey, all of whom provided lively essays on Williams' idyllic retreat.  And I can't write a review of this book without mentioning the coterie of dogs that call La Colina home. Cleo, Marco, Blanco, and Bob appear throughout the book, and well they should, too.  A house just isn't a home without our four-legged friends joining us.

  

© Marianne Haas

© François Halard

© François Halard

Also earning a place on my bookshelves is François Catroux by David Netto.  A longtime fan of Catroux, I had been anxiously awaiting this monograph of the man who many consider to be the premier decorator in the world.  Although I was disappointed that some of my favorite Catroux projects were not included in this book, François Catroux is still very worthy of being required reading for anyone interested in the greats of twentieth and twenty-first century interior design.  The sheer range of the designer's work- starting with an ultra-contemporary look in the early Seventies, then shifting to a sumptuous version of traditionalism in the Eighties, and now situated somewhere in-between- is impressive and will likely give readers much food for thought.

© François Catroux by David Netto, Rizzoli New York, 2016

If you're looking for a guidebook for your next trip to Paris or seeking a gift for a Francophile friend, may I suggest Paris by Laduree?  With text by Serge Gleizes and sumptuous photography by Pierre-Olivier Signe, this stocking-stuffer-sized book is filled with sophisticated suggestions on the best- and most classic- restaurants, food emporiums, retail shops, and museums that the City of Light has to offer.  Included in this guide are Le Grand Véfour, Azzedine Alaïa, Dior Joaillerie, Hôtel Drouot, and Musée Jacquemart-André.  This book is a real charmer.

Contessa Brandolini D'Adda: At the Brandolinis’ Left Bank apartment, which surrounded a courtyard, a Venetian exuberance was contained within a traditional 17th-century French building. In her bedroom, the contessa (dressed by Cardin) rested her hand on the head of a 17th-century cutout of a Dutch boy. Behind her, a sepia wash drawing by Victor Hugo. © Condé Nast

Nancy Lancaster: From the 18th-century portrait above the drawing-room fireplace, the pet dog of the Roxburghe children (in van Dyck suits) gazes down on Mrs. Lancaster’s scarlet-collared whippets. The walls, covered in aquamarine silk, were decorated with Chippendale appliqués. The carpet, Aubusson. © Condé Nast

Kenneth Jay Lane: Another view of the hall. Hanging against a mirrored wall: a pair of antlers engraved in the 16th century with a landscape. Below the antlers, a 17th-century Italian chest of ebony inlaid with ivory figures, placed on a polished-chrome stand. To the left, a 19th-century American horn chair. © Condé Nast


Having owned the book Horst Interiors for years, I was unsure if I needed to add Around that Time: Horst at Home in Vogue, written by Hamish Bowles, to my library.  I assumed that this new book contained much of the same imagery that appeared in the previous Horst book.  How wrong I was.  Yes, you will likely be familiar with a number of the Horst photos and subjects in Bowles' book, but it also features so much that is new to me.  Homes of Bill Blass, Kenneth Jay Lane, and Nancy Lancaster appear alongside those of Oscar and Françoise de la Renta, Karl Lagerfeld, and Horst himself.  Does it get any better than that? 

Around that Time is a book you will want to purchase for your library, and it's one that will not accumulate dust.  Already, I have perused it multiple times, and my enthusiasm for it shows no signs of waning.

Iris Apfel, Visual Gourmet

This is one blog post that you'll want to read with the aid of a pair of glasses, a magnifying glass, or the zoom function of your mouse, because the photos, like the interiors they depict, are jam-packed with so much to see.  And you will want a good look at these rooms, for they belong to everyone's favorite fashion doyenne, Iris Apfel, and her late husband, Carl.

Photographed for the 1976 issue of Architectural Digest, the Apfels' Manhattan apartment is a treasure-trove of luscious fabrics, Continental furniture, and objects that run the gamut of Western culture, from singerie to Chinoiserie.  Describing herself as a "visual gourmet", Iris Apfel described her home as a "multilevel experience.  Almost everything I've ever acquired is still here somewhere."  She also refers to her apartment as a "collage", a word that we should consider using in lieu of that tired term, "layered".

What really struck me- other than the visually-rich rooms, of course- was Apfel's lamentation about the diminished emphasis on quality and education: "So very little has the solidity of experience and the tangible benefits of knowledge slowly learned...Quality is under siege today, and I doubt whether it can survive the onslaught.  Our only hope is that those of us who do care about standards will fight to keep them."  Forty years later, and we're still grappling with these same issues.

 Living Room:

The Master Bedroom:

The two-room Guest Apartment, which was located downstairs from the main residence:

Photos from Architectural Digest, March/April 1976, Richard Champion, photographer

Garnitures: Vase Sets from National Trust Houses

The Victoria & Albert Museum recently debuted a new exhibition that is right up our alley: Garnitures: Vase Sets from National Trust Houses.  Garnitures, which are matching sets of vases and vessels, came into fashion in the seventeenth century, when upper-class Europeans began fervently collecting and amassing Chinese porcelain.  Typically displayed on mantelpieces, on tops of cabinets and chests, or over doorways, garnitures are usually comprised of odd-numbered pieces, which, when displayed, create a pleasing sense of symmetry.

Although garnitures fell out of favor by the Victorian era, many porcelain collectors, aesthetes, and decorators continued to garnish their interiors with these ceramic sets.  (By the way, the term "garniture" is derived from "garnir", which is the French word for garnish.)  Still today, you can find garnitures employed by the likes of Carolyne Roehm, Alex Papachristidis, and Andrew Gn, whose uses of garnitures can be seen below.

But back to the V&A exhibit.  There, you'll find all kinds of wonderful examples of garnitures from such National Trust Houses as Dunham Massey, Tatton Park, and Kingston Lacy, where the three-piece garniture seen above can be found.  Accompanying the exhibit is a book which provides an overview of both the exhibition and the history of garnitures.  In the U.K., the book is titled Garnitures.  In the U.S., however, the book's title is Vase Mania.  Although the U.S. title has a bit more zest, I can't help but wonder if it was dumbed down for the American audience.  Perhaps I'll leave that conversation for another day.


Some examples of vase mania, which bear no relation to the V&A exhibit:

 Proof that garnitures don't have to be blue-and-white.  In the Paris home of antiquaires Patrick and Josephine Fremontier.

 A set located in the background of a young Vincent Fourcade's home.  (Photo by Slim Aarons.)

 Carolyne Roehm has a passion for blue-and-white porcelain and ceramics.

 A blue-and-white garniture, atop a cabinet in the Paris home of the Comte and Comtesse Hubert d'Ornano.

 A garniture, displayed on a table, in the Chinese Blue Drawing Room at Catherine Palace, Tsarskoye Selo, Russia

A bedside garniture, in a room decorated by Alex Papachristidis.

Based on the three photos above, it is clear that fashion designer Andrew Gn has vase mania.